


Does it matter

by Shadowdianne



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 08:13:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17639114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/Shadowdianne
Summary: Asked by skiab via tumblr because apparently is angst weekend.Could I request some Neverland related angst please?





	Does it matter

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out to be more plotty than intended rather than outright angst. I apologize. Seems like the muse wanted some work on some stuff.  
> Set on: 3x02 “Lost girl” Just a scene at the end of the episode, before Emma shows the rest of the group the restored map.

 

“I know, I led us to a trap, you don’t need to come here to gloat.”

Leaning on a tree, eyes zeroing on the darkness that surrounded the small camp they had made through the night Regina barely glanced away from the trees that stood in front of her, one hand extended, palm up and fingers toying with purple-colored smoke that rose in the air, licking her skin like flames would. She could feel Emma’s presence at her right, just a little bit behind and she wondered momentarily when she had gotten so attuned to the blonde’s magic essence for her to be able to sense it amidst the strong magic signature the very same soil they were all standing in emanated. A thought that made her purse her lips as she kept her eyes straight ahead, not trusting a leaf or a shadow that came closer than the rest to the small clearing they all were in.

She could hear some noise, as if the blonde was fidgeting with the damned piece of paper that that demon as the pirate liked to call him had given to her. Jaw clenching, Regina squared her shoulders, waiting for the blonde’s angry words to reach her. Words that, she thought with something close to a crocked smile tensing her lips, wouldn’t cause her any pain or repent. She had already been beating herself.

Think, always think, always wait, always search for hidden meanings, for the fine print. That had been a lesson both mother and Rumplestiskin had been adamant to teach her and yet she kept on falling from it. She had gotten rusty; complacent. Magic always came with a price and her hubris had almost gotten them killed. Which, in turn, would made Henry be a prisoner for the kid she so desperately wanted to kill.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming closer, Emma’s presence growing nearer. Bothered and tired, she looked at her with what she hoped would be enough heat for the blonde to understand she wasn’t feeling like having a lecture for someone like her. Not when she still felt her body sore and tired, the burns on her temples and wrists concealed by a glamour spell but still there, itching, reminding her of how she had almost died, of how she had almost lost herself with electricity running through her every cell.

She blinked, however, when, instead of angry eyes, Emma merely crossed her left arm over her midriff before presenting her with the map. Map that, she discovered when she allowed her eyes to travel lower, was filled as if it had never been blank.

“How…” She began but stopped herself. She didn’t have the time for this. Not when they were a step closer to find Henry. However, Emma didn’t seem to share that same urgency, a half shrug from her shoulders and a wandering gaze telling her more than enough.

“The answer was “orphan.” The blonde finally spoke, her voice grave and somber. Her eyes, however, were gleaming with anger and Regina latched onto it, on the rawness she could sense there.  Dropping her free hand, the blonde turned it into a fist, knuckles white and just the barest of sparks filling the air between them. Not enough, Regina thought absentmindedly, to truly make Emma’s power be seen by others who lacked proper magic training but the signature of it heady enough for her own magic bubble within her chest.

Strange, she thought, but her musings were interrupted once more as Emma let out a breathless laugh, one that almost sounded like a wheeze as she turned to eye the forest around them, face obscured by the darkness that surrounded them, the machete she wore a morbid silhouette peeking just above her left shoulder. “Of all the things. That was the answer.”

Regina didn’t have time for self-realizations or discoveries. She didn’t have the time to trudge through years of unspoken feelings. Her most urgent problem was finding Henry. Safe and sound.

Yet, when she kept eyeing Emma, she felt the control of the hex she had been keeping lit on her hand dropping momentarily, her left hand going instantly to the ring she had recently put on her finger once more, playing with the cold touch in a way she knew would have made mother seethe as a girl.

“Well.” She finally said, and Emma’s eyes returned to hers, her cheekbones unnaturally highlighted under the moonlight shadow that gave everything a silver hue Regina hadn’t liked one bit ever since night had fallen. “I’m glad you found the answer.”

Lips pressed together, Emma shrugged, her body-posture telling enough as she seemed to be a moment away from walking back to the center of the clearing, towards the bonfire Regina herself had created. Which, Regina found, was something she suddenly didn’t want.

“Wait.” She called, just as Emma’s arms twitched, muscles rippling behind her skin. Licking her lips quickly, Regina dropped her hands to her sides, fingers grasping for air, calling her magic once more in the middle of the jungle. “You really think what you said back at the shore?” At Emma’s confused glare Regina rolled her own eyes. Why she was even bothering was beyond her. The blonde had caught her by surprise, had said what she had needed to say. That was all.

And yet, she hadn’t been able to shake the feeling of awe and confusion that had been feeding on her ever since Emma had looked at her with enough heat for her own magic to sizzle and, for a moment, what she had said in anger and self-righteousness had transformed into something that had called upon her power, upon a sudden, stupid need to prove herself.

“About not expecting us to be friends?” She could see the confusion there, on Emma’s expression and, for a second, she thought the blonde was merely going to ignore it. Instead, the blonde rose her chin, her hair framing sudden stone-like features that made Regina school her own. Behind Emma she could see both David and Snow eyeing them, not close enough to even be able to hear them but curious, worried. She set her jaw as tightly as possible, not wanting to give them any satisfaction.

“Yes.” She replied, and she could see Emma’s shoulders lock in place, muscles bulging for a moment before the blonde relaxed her stance a fraction. Enough for Regina to see it, enough for her magic to sense it.

The blonde’s power was so close to the surface, she thought a moment after, that she could almost taste it. And she feared for a moment on what that ability made her be. Just like Rumple had been able to feel her powers, just like her mother had pushed and prodded and waited.

Shaking her head, she re-focused herself just as Emma hummed, folding the piece of paper and putting it away with quick, brusque movements.

“I know you want to be only Regina.” She finally spoke, and her voice hold a strange gentleness that made Regina’s skin prickle. “I know that you were ready to give your life for ours.” Regina didn’t correct her, but she could feel the beginning of a “no” forming on her throat. One that Emma’s eyes narrowed at, seemingly capable of sensing it even she hadn’t moved a muscle. “I also know that we were stronger together. Both of us. So, I don’t care if we are friends or not. But if we want to find Henry we need to work like that. No matter our past stories.”

“So, you now believe on those?” The question came tumbling down her lips and Regina winced inwardly at it, at how much it hurt in a way seeing that Emma, the woman who had said once she didn’t think her past deeds truly weighed her down on Storybrooke, referred to her as a character. As yet another character in a book she hadn’t had the chance to write for herself. Not the beginning at least.

“That’s not important.” The blonde said, finally turning and calling the others before turning to glance at Regina over her shoulder. “Or is it, Regina?”

Regina said nothing, furiously taking the ring off her ring, pushing it inside one of the pockets of her blazer once again. But it was important, a voice inside her head whispered. It was much more important than she had let the woman in front of her know.

And it was that moment that, in hindsight, built everything else. Not that she knew it in that moment, not when she followed Emma towards the center of the clearing.


End file.
